A Wash And Some Details
As previously mentioned I gave the Corsair a wash which was sealed in with gloss to make it easier to handle, this was was MIGs Stone Grey PLW and it came out quite nicely, it highlights the riveting a bit better where black would get lost against the blue but not as much as a white would stand out. It also allowed for some dirtying of certain parts, like that fabric panel on the left wing in order to weather the roundel a bit. I'm growing to be quite a fan of these washes though the need to shake them every couple minutes before the pigment sinks to the bottom of the bottle is a little annoying at times.
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Wish the wash done I went ahead and did some detail work, notably the serial number. It's certainly not perfect but unfortunately they painted the serial on by hand and I also didn't want to pay out for a generic decal sheet that would be the wrong size or font. It came out decent, looks fine at a distance. Thanks to that gloss coat fixes can be done by poking at it with a cocktail stick, allowing a few attempts of painting them. The right side is definitely the better side due to balancing this plane being a bit awkward.
The red fuel tank filler caps were quickly done, and then a couple of markings by hand such as a faded '100 Oct Only' on the fuel tank, and 'T/XX' on a panel nearby. Gun ports were painted silver, needing a quick black wash.
The propeller has finally been done, I actually instinctively painted it blue before remembering the entire propeller and hub is black. This was chipped with chipping fluid, this time remembering I have two versions. AK has a 'scratches effect' version which is the more appropriate product to use for aircraft, but the 'heavy chipping' which they demonstrate on a rusted train car has a place if you want, naturally, bigger sized chips.
One propeller blade was beaten up, I don't have a photo on hand right now but you may be able to see it in earlier photos but one blade has received a bonk during this Corsair's lifetime but the rest are prestine. A decal and a wash will be needed tomorrow, also a couple of decals I forgot on the Corsair will be added.
The landing gear is also largely done though I didn't take a photo, at the moment it's resting on blu-tacked kit wheels while the resin arrives. The landing gear doors and panels are painted up but need a bit of scratching up. On the wheels (which won't be used) one is silver, the other is blue in some photos and in others has had the majority of paint removed to reveal silver beneath it. There's a few minor things like this that appear in some photos and change over the years, either way I'll do the two different colour ones as it looks a bit snazzy.
Flaps were added, but they're not a very strong connection so they kind of just fell off over the course of an hour of handling but otherwise they're ready to go.
Next up is a few things but I have a ticklist as we approach the end, primarily tomorrow will focus on the somewhat neglected underside to make things a tad more interesting. Also I need to finish off that canopy, the yellow stripes are a bit tedious to mask but much needed.
